Fuller 



The Gates 
family 



CS71 
.G259 
1877 



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THE GATES FAMILY. 



BY THE HON. BENJAMIN A. G. FULLER, A.M., OF BOSTON. 



Ij^ROM certain old manuscripts in my possession, it appears that Ste- 
phen Gates, the second son of Thomas Gates, of Norwich, Norfolk 
County, England, came to this country in 1642, and settled first at Hing- 
ham, Mass. With him came his wife, two sons, Stephen and Simon, and 
a daughter Elizabeth. A son Thomas and a daughter Mary (as appears 
from his will, though she is not named in any other of the papers) were 
born in this country. He removed to Nashaway (Lancaster) in 1653, and 
became one of the largest proprietors of the town, and was one of the peti- 
tioners for its incorporation in 1654. He subsequently removed to Cam- 
bridge, where (as shown by his will) he hired a farm, and where he died in 
1662. 

This will, witnessed by Edmund Angier and Esther Sparhawke, and 
proved Oct. 7, 1662, is as follows : 

Camb v . y c 9 th of y e 4 th : 1662. 1. Stephen Gates being sick upon my bed, but 
of p r fect memorie Desire to Comit my Soul to God that gaue it in a hope of a Joy- 
full resurrection and my body to be comely buried. And for my other Estate my 
will is that my wife and my sun Simon continue in y e place where God haue now set 
me During the time 1 haue in it, and to keep the stock in theire hands till the term 
is out and to pay the Rent according to my agreement ; and that my son Thomas to 
continnue with them as long as he please. 1 give to my wife a Third of my Lands, 
and all the rest of my Estate during her life. 1 give to my Son Stephen my house 
and my house lott of Twenty acres at Nashaway and Twenty acres of Intervale 
Lands and all my Land at Hemp Swamp and all my Medow at Fostepolekin. The 
third of these Lands being excepted as aboue to my wife during her life. Item. I give 
Three hundred and fourteen acres of Land wi th in the bounds of Nashaway, and a 
parcell of Medow at Still River To be Divided Equally between Simon & Thomas. 
Item my mind is that my wife Shall give a Colt of a year old unto my Daughter 
Elizabeth when y e Lease of y e Harm is out. Item my will is that my wife giue to 
my Daughter. Mary Maynar a heifer of Two years old when y e Lease of the fl'arm is 
out. Item. I give power to my wife to dispose of all the Stock and my moveables 
when she die amongst my Children according to her discretion. Item my will is 
that Elizabeth Bradshaw abide w th my wife "her Service Ship and that when her 
time is out my wife shall put her in a double suit of apparell and giue her a heifer 
a year old. I appoint my wife and my son Simon to be Executors. 

The descendants of this Stephen are quite numerous, and the manuscripts 
in my possession show as follows : 

i. Stephen 2 (first son b. in England), settled in Stow ; m. , and had eight 

children : Stephen* Simon* Thomas * Isaac* Nathaniel* Daniel* Rebec- 
ca* Sarah* 



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ii. Simox 2 (second son b. in England), lived at Winter Hill; m. , and had 

Simon, 3 who resided in Marlboro', and had sons who resided in Worcester ; 

Amos, 3 who lived in Framingham ; Samuel; 3 [Jonathan, 3 b. in Cambridge, 

1683, and d. in Worcester, 1756, wife Persis*]. 
iii. Thomas, 2 resided at Stow, and had eleven children, viz. : John 3 of Stow (see 

below); Joseph; 3 Josiah; 3 Caleb; 3 Elizabeth 3 m. Holmes; Sarah, 3 d. 

unm. ; Mary 3 m. Rose ; Joanna, 3 m. Standish ; Abigail 3 m. 

Forbes ; Anne 3 m. Tyler ; Ruth 3 m. Sanders. Several of 

these resided at Preston and Colchester, Ct. 
John 3 Gates ( Thomas, 2 Stephen 1 ), of Stow, had five children, 
i. Hezekiah 4 (see below), who settled at Lancaster, Mass. 
ii. Ephraim. 4 iii. Samuel. 4 iv. John. 4 v. Mary. 4 All of Stow. 

Hezekiah 4 Gates {John 3 Thomas, 2 Stephen 1 ), had seven children. 

i. Thomas, 6 of Lancaster. 

ii. Mary, 6 m. Rathburn, of Colchester, Ct. 

iii. Elizabeth, 6 m. — — Leach, of Portsmouth, N. H. 
iv. Dorothy, 6 m. Peter Thurston, of Lancaster, Mass. 

v. Rebecca, 6 m. Houghton, of " " 

vi. Sarah, 6 m. Elder, of Lancaster. 

vii. Anne, 6 m. Moore, of.Lancaster. 

This Hezekiah Gates was a large landed proprietor of Lancaster, and 
owned lands which had belonged to his great-grandfather Stephen. In 
1759 he published a pamphlet of 17 pages, entitled, 

King George's Right to the Crown of Great Britain Displayed ; Being a Collec- 
tion from History from the first known Times to the present 3 7 ear, 1769. Extracted 
for the Benefit of those in the Province of Massachusetts Bay who have not Leisure 
to study History. Shewing it to be the Duty of all officers and others to defend the 
Heirs of Sophia, being Protestants, upon the British Throne, and the undoubted 
Right that King George the Third hath to the Crown of Great Britain. Printed 
by^Richard Draper, in Newbury Street, Boston. 1769. 

Dorothy Thurston, dau. of Peter and Dorothy, granddaughter of Heze- 
kiah Gates, married Josiah Flagg, of Lancaster, whose daughter Sally still 
resides there, aged about 85 years, and from whom these papers have come 
into my hands. To save these loose, detached memoranda from oblivion, 
I have put them in shape, and send them to the Register for preserva- 
tion, if perchauce of interest and value. 

It is proper for me to add that said Hezekiah, notwithstanding the title 
of his pamphlet may suggest a doubt, was wholly patriotic in the days of 
the Revolution, and in 1777 was elected by the town of Lancaster as one 
of the " Committee of Safety and Correspondence." 

* The addition within brackets is made on the authority of a manuscript genealogical 
record compiled by Gardiner Paine Gates, of West Newton and placed by him in the 
archives of the New-England Historic, Genealogical Society. In this manuscript the descent 
of the compiler is thus given : Stephen^ Gates of Hingham, Simon, 2 Jonathan, 3 Jonathan, 4 
Paulf Nathaniel , 6 Gardiner P. 1 — Ed. 



[Reprinted from the N. E. Historical and Genealogical Register for Oct. 1877. 



David Clapp <J* Son, Printers. 



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